Not the Order You Are Looking For
by Archon Dragon
Summary: Palpatine issues Order 66. Things do not go the way he planned. One-shot.


Palpatine felt giddy as he walked over to his comm unit. He was finally doing it! He was finally going to enact Order 66 and be rid of the Jedi! Palpatine suppressed the feelings and composed himself as soon as the comm unit hummed to life. Nothing would get done if he just stood there thinking about it. He could celebrate after he told his troops to shoot the Jedi in their backs.

Palpatine punched in the code to connect to the first commander on a long list, the commander of Coruscant's garrison. After all, he had to make sure the Jedi would not be able to send another group to assassinate him.

The commander's helmeted face appeared before him, and Palpatine said a single sentence, "Commander Thire Execute Order 66."

The clone replied in a professional, clipped tone, "It will be done." The communication ended and the commander's face disappeared from view.

Palpatine frowned slightly to himself. Something felt a bit off about that whole episode, but he did not have time to dwell on it. The clones would mobilize quickly to assault the Jedi temple, and the more powerful force users would begin to feel the deaths of other Jedi if he dawdled too long.

Palpatine quickly punched in the code to connect to the next commander on his list. As soon as the commander's face appeared before him, Palpatine repeated his previous statement. The clone replied exactly as the commander before him had. Palpatine repeated this process several more times. After each communication, Palpatine's feeling that something was wrong grew more and more.

It was not until he was punching in the code for the eleventh commander that he finally realized what was bugging him. None of the clones had addressed him with their replies. Not one of them said "sir" or "my lord." This was most peculiar. Clones had always addressed him with such titles after he gave them orders, so why did they not do so this time? Before he could think any further on the issue, the next commander appeared in front of him.

While he was giving the same command yet again, Palpatine heard the door open and the footsteps of several people coming in. What was the meaning of this? He had told the guards outside that he was not to be disturbed! Then, he heard the commander respond exactly as the others had. This time, Palpatine distinctly noticed the lack of a title in the commander's response, and it angered him. How dare the commander not address him with a proper title. He was the grand chancellor!

Furious at the events that occurred in the last few seconds, Palpatine turned quickly to demand answers from the people who dared to intrude on his finest moment. The demand died before it left his lips, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

A dozen clones were lined up in front of Palpatine. All of them had their backs to the wall, or were blocking the door. The presence of the clones was not the surprising thing, however. Clones had been in his office before after all. The thing that surprised Palpatine was that every clone had a blaster out, and they were all aiming at him.

The clones opened fire.

Palpatine quickly used the force to call his hidden light saber to his hand. The cool metal had barely connected with his skin before he turned it on in a blaze of red. He quickly, desperately parried the first bolts to reach him, even managing to send one bolt back at its shooter. Palpatine's initial surprise at the sudden turn of events had delayed his reaction only a fraction of a second, but it was still enough to force him on the defensive.

As his light saber whirled, so too did Palpatine's mind. What was going on? The clones were supposed to turn on the Jedi, not him. He had made sure the clones would follow any order he gave them without question, so why would they turn on him now?

Unfortunately for Palpatine, his thoughts were cut short by a searing pain. The clone that he had hit with a deflected bolt had not died. Instead, the clone had fallen to the ground where he had recovered and started shooting from his now prone position. The clone's new vantage point had been just what was needed to get through Palpatine's harried defense.

A single blaster bolt slammed into Palpatine's left side. The pain, as well as the force of the bolt, caused the Sith lord to stumble ever so slightly, and his guard to falter just a hair. But that was all that was needed. Even as another three bolts were deflected, two more found their mark and hit the madman in the chest. Palpatine collapsed under the hail of blaster bolts, his light saber deactivating as he fell.

Despite the man's collapse, the clones did not let up on their firing one bit. They peppered his fallen form for several more seconds before the commander stopped firing and raised his fist. The other clones also stopped their assault, but they did not lower their blasters. They all stood still and watched the smoldering corpse for a few seconds, looking for any movement, any sign of life. When it became apparent that the body would not move, one clone broke off from the rest and crouched down next to it. He checked it over, before he stood up, turned around, and nodded to his commander.

The commander activated his comm unit and said, "command, this is Commander Fox. Mission accomplished. Order 66, to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor for treason, has been executed."


End file.
